Roux Spoons, Part Deux

Now that my marking gauge for the tool swap is in the mail, I had a chance to get back on a few backlogged projects.

About 8 months ago, I made and posted this project. My wife needed a few more roux spoons to give away to some special friends. I cut the basic shape out on the bandsaw, then resawed the shapes into two stirrers. Next step was to hand plane the edge on the blade (I used a Stanley No. 40 scrub plane because I like to) then some light rasping on the edges. Last step was sanding with the ROS. No finish was applied—just raw cedar.

EDIT: If you get a chance to participate in a tool swap, don’t hesitate. It is a chance to meet a challenge, to try some new skills you may never would have tried, and to do your best work to send off to a fellow LJ. Plus, you get a tool hand made by a fellow LJ. Highly recommend signing up for the next one—- I suspect I will as well.

-- People say I hammer like lightning. It's not that I'm fast -- it's that I never hit the same place twice!

Are the spoon/stirring ends slightly curved or dished out or was the one my Grandmothert used just a wooden spoonthat had stirred so many skillets of chicken gravy and gumbo roux that it was worn down almost flat ended just like those spoons. She’d probably had hers for forty years.

@Hand—This pattern is just a stick shaped in two dimensions. The working end is “sharpened” (really flattened) to scrape the roux during cooking to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. The angle of the blade just works ergonomically.

-- People say I hammer like lightning. It's not that I'm fast -- it's that I never hit the same place twice!

@TimH—Great question! I haven’t noticed any cedar flavoring in the food. I’m thinking that since the cedar is only in contact with the food’s base of flour and oil, that the spoon is coated with the oil and covers and seals the cedar aroma. Most locals only use the roux spoon during the making of the roux itself and not in stirring the dish during cooking. Also, the base is a small part of the food by volume too. Another advantage of using cedar is that when the item’s service as a roux spoon is done, you can toss it in the charcoal to flavor the meat or fish.

-- People say I hammer like lightning. It's not that I'm fast -- it's that I never hit the same place twice!